Hamilton woman joins Army after becoming a U.S. citizen

Trentonian photo/SCOTT KETTERER
Anastasia Kryshina sits at her station inside of the Propaganda salon where she had worked as a stylist and jack-of-all-trades on Jan. 26, 2013. Kryshina leaves Monday for Basic Training at Fort Sill in Oklahoma.

HAMILTON — Anastasia Kryshina hoped her last day at the Propaganda Salon would be a quiet day.

The 23-year-old Hamilton woman is set to leave for Army basic training on Monday, but her friends at the salon had other ideas about her last day at work.

“I just wanted to leave quietly,” said Kryshina. “I just wanted to be able to say goodbye to my clients, I never expected all of this.”

Kryshina said she decided to work up until the last minute because that is the kind of person she is.

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“I have to be busy,” Kryshina said. “I can’t just sit around and wait, I’ve always got to be moving.”

Kryshina is headed toward a new chapter in her life, fulfilling a goal she has sought to achieve most of her 23 years.

Opening new chapters in life is nothing new for Kryshina, however. In her 23 years she’s been a makeup artist, modeled in New York, begun a career as a stylist, and become an American citizen.

Anastasia is a Russian immigrant, who along with her family, worked for 13 years to achieve her new citizenship.

Aside from getting her citizenship, Kryshina also modeled in a fashion show. She walked down the runway for a Russian designer at New York’s Fashion Week after she was mistaken for a model while doing makeup at the show, the reason she was there.

Her talent at the Hamilton salon includes being a makeup artist and hairstylist among other duties; she said she is a jack-of-all-trades there.

Salon owner Annie Jarosz said that Anastasia has become like a sister to her in the last year and a half since the salon opened, “I’m happy with whatever she pursues.”

Co-worker Robert Matuzsan is responsible for the send-off who said that Kryshina had gone to school with his children.

“I like to support the military,” said Matuzsan a Vietnam veteran himself. “You always hear about coming home parties, well, we decided to throw a send-off to wish Ana the best.”

When asked how she became interested in the military, Kryshina responded that she had joined the Junior ROTC program for the Air Force while attending Robbinsville High school.

Kryshina said she later became interested in joining the army after high school, though she never lost the drive to join even when a software glitch during the recruitment process caused a bit of a delay.

Her recruiter, Sgt. Ernest Durr, said the glitch didn’t harm her ability to get into her chosen job in Intelligence.

The new recruit said she felt that joining the military was her calling and said she picked the Army because it offered her the most options.

“You can do anything in the Army,” Kryshina said.

Even bigger news for Kryshina is the recent decision to allow women to fight in combat, though it may be some time before she would see combat as military branches have until 2016 to argue against the decision.

“I believe in equality,” said Kryshina. “I think that women should be able to do what men do, be a sniper or fight on the front lines.”

Kryshina, admittedly nervous, said that she can’t believe it’s her last day after waiting five-years.

“All of a sudden it’s a day before I leave,” said Kryshina. “I’m excited and nervous, I have friends in the military that I ask about what it’s like, but you never know until you get there.”

She said that all of her friends and family have been supportive of her joining the military. She said that her coworkers at the salon have become like family to her and that they’ve been thrilled for her.

“I’m a little nervous and excited,” said Anastasia’s mother Tatiana Kryshina. “I’m excited that she is following her dreams, I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

Anastasia ships out Monday for basic training at Fort Sill in Oklahoma and will do her Advanced Individual Training at Fort Huachuca in Arizona where she will specialize in Intelligence.

Mercer County Freeholder Pat Colavita, State Senator Linda Greenstein, and State Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo attended the send-off; both issuing certificates of honor to the stylist turned Army private.

They bestowed Kryshina with honors and thanked her for going into service for her country.

When asked what she would miss most, Kryshina replied, “Family and friends.”

She also admitted she would miss good food, because she heard that the food in basic training isn’t that good from friends who have gone before her.